1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a detergent composition, and, more particularly, to a detergent composition comprising an anionic or amphoteric surface active agent and a branched quaternary ammonium salt. The detergent composition is suitable for use as a shampoo, which provides superb hair conditioning effects, including softness and smoothness after washing, easy hair-set after drying, less sticky feeling, easiness of comb or finger passage through the hair. The detergent composition also provides a liquid detergent for washing cloths, which ensures softness of the cloths, especially those made of keratin fibers such as wool or the like, or made of fine denier fibers, after washing.
2. Description of the Background:
Many types of detergent compositions are commercially sold in recent years, which contain a cationic polymer such as a cationic cellulose, or a cationic surface active agent, in order to provide the washed hair with excellent conditioning effects or for the purpose of giving cloths an excellent soft feeling after washing. Most of these detergents can provide good softness to the hair or cloths after washing.
These conventional detergents, however, have drawbacks of poor detergent capability and insufficient softness of the hair or the cloths after drying because of cationic polymers or cationic surface active agents used in the detergents. More specifically, detergents for cloths into which a cationic surface active agent is formulated exhibit rather poor dirt-elimination capability due to an adverse effect of the cationic surfactant. Even though such a cationic surface active agent is employed in an amount small enough not to impair the detergent capability of the composition, softness of the finished cloths is still to be improved. Shampoos containing a cationic surface active agent tend to impart a sticky feel when the hair is dried after washing and to adversely affect a smooth passage of comb through the hair. In addition, a complex of a surface active agent and a cationic polymer solidifies in the course of hair drying and causes hair-fly or hardens the hair, thus providing insufficient conditioning effects. The use of increased amount of cationic polymer to eliminate these drawbacks brings about more stickiness and damages a smoothness or softness of the finished hair.
Because of this, there has been a strong desire for the development of a detergent which can provide an excellent conditioning effect to the hair or the cloths after washing and drying, specifically, providing softness, smoothness, and fine delicate feeling to the finished hair or the cloths.
The present inventors have undertaken extensive studies for the resolution of the above drawbacks in the conventional detergents, and found that a detergent composition to which a branched quaternary ammonium salt is formulated, in addition to an anionic or amphoteric surface active agent, gives a delicate softness to cloths after washing and provides soft, smooth feeling to the hair, eliminating the drawbacks of conventional shampoo compositions to which a cationic polymer is formulated, e.g. imparting stickiness in the course of drying or producing hardened hair after drying.